And giving the brothers his blessing. In that moment, infused
From on high came a spiritual sweetness with the wondrous
Exultation that filled the souls of the brothers that stood around.
It enlivened them, consoled them and stabilized them all.
That the holy man was present was something beyond doubt,
Bracing his followers by prayers and guiding them with care.
He who had once brought Ambrose to the funeral of Martin,
Was now at this time causing Francis to be present to them.

But the holy man, when his Order far and wide had spread,
Wanted the form of life, the previous pope had approved,
To receive now the confirmation of his successor.
By means of a vision, what steps to take he came to know.
For, bread in tiny particles he saw himself gathering up ^{Jn 6:12}
From off the ground, little particles for him to distribute.
Lest they be lost he feared to give them out; then a voice came:
"Let a single host, Francis, be made out of all these crumbs,
And you are to present to those who wish to eat it."
When this was done, leprosy afflicted those that refused.
Alert again, he made no sense of what he had seen, but prayed
The more expectantly, till a voice from heaven told him
That these tiny little crumbs were the words of the Gospel;
That the host composed of the crumbs was the rule, that earlier
From gospel words was in a fashion quite diffuse produced,
And that would, in a form more condensed one day be confirmed;
Although the leprosy of guilt would stain its despisers.
With this advice and at the Lord's leading, taking up with him
Two of the brothers, he climbed a mountain, and there apart
Fasting, with bread and water the only solace he would
Accept, that his mind uncluttered might totally dwell on God,
He got it written, exactly as, while he was at prayer,
The Holy Spirit inwardly prompted him. Thereupon,
A few days having passed, the one who acted in his place
Lost it. Hereupon Francis, to the mountain again making his way,
Remade the rule, as though from God's mouth he had received it,
And in accord with his own intention, had it confirmed.
Like the old Law and the new, so was a new Rule later
On a mountain given, containing the sum of both Laws.
Francis, instructed from on high, decreed that everything
Be done according to the pattern shown on the mountain.
And as the spirit of prophecy was given to him,
Of hidden things, things far away, and those to happen still
What prescience he had, let some few facts now testify.
For when at Damietta, critical for the Christians

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